Storylines at 2015 LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship

SIME DARBY CHAMPION LOOKING FOR AN ENCORE

Jessica Korda posted a runner-up finish at the season-opening Coates Golf Championship, but she hadn’t seen the top-10 since. She entered the season fifth in Solheim Cup points but she didn’t make the team. It was largely that type of year for Korda. For every potential breakthrough came another frustration. Heading into Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, she had missed eight cuts in her last 12 events.

But as quickly as it can turn for the worse, it can turn for the better. Korda missed the cut at the Evian Championship but three weeks off from competition clearly served as a revitalization as the 22-year-old American easily rolled to a four- shot victory at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia behind consecutive weekend rounds of 6-under par 65 - her two lowest rounds of the season to earn her fourth career win.

WATCH OUT INBEE, LYDIA’S KO-MING FOR THAT NO. 1 SPOT

Lydia Ko could have taken over the world No. 1 ranking with a win last week but instead she finished second. But she nearly cut Park’s lead in half last week and this Park’s No. 1 ranking will be in major doubt with both in the field again this week.

Ko’s recent stretch of play is amongst the strongest the LPGA Tour has seen in 2015. In three consecutive starts, Ko won the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, won the Evian Championship for her first career major championship and finished runner-up at Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia. If that continues here, Park will have her hands full maintaining the stranglehold she’s enjoyed over the No. 1 ranking since taking it from Ko in early June when she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Not only is the No. 1 world ranking up for the taking, but also all of the LPGA’s biggest season-ending awards. Ko already leads the Race to the CME Globe, which she won last year, and she is barely trailing Park for the Vare Trophy, Rolex Player of the Year and money list titles.

In her lone appearance at the LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship a year ago, Ko finished 29th. But historically this hasn’t been a particularly strong start for Park either. She’s never won here and although she was just one shot out of the playoff a year ago in fourth place, that was her best finish in eight starts with only one other top-10 finish. She finished in a tie for 15th last week at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

FIRST START, FIRST WIN

In her first start ever on the LPGA Tour, Q Baek proved it didn’t take long to adjust by winning the 2014 LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship. Baek won a three-way playoff after firing a final-round 4-under-par 67 to get into the playoff. At 10-under par, 278, Baek tied Brittany Lincicome and In Gee Chun but then birdied the first playoff hole to take the title after Lincicome missed a five-foot birdie putt of her own.

Baek was 19 years old at the time but already had three KLPGA wins to her credit at that point. Baek’s final round a year ago was particularly memorable because she played the opening nine with nine straight pars to lose her 54-hole lead. But she birdied five consecutive holes - No. 10 through 15 - to storm back into a share of the lead.

Notably, her two competitors in the playoff a year ago - Lincicome and Chun - won the season’s first two majors of 2015 - the ANA Inspiration and the U.S. Women’s Open.

THE YOUNG RISING KOREAN STAR

21-year-old In Gee Chun, or Dumbo as she’s affectionately known in Korea, has long been a star in Korea, but she stormed into golf fan’s consciousness in the States earlier this summer with a resounding victory at the United States Women’s Open. But Chun’s ascension into worldwide acclaim should have come here last year when she finished runner-up.

Chun, who won six worldwide tournaments in a three-month stretch earlier this year, proved she belong among the world’s elite with a 10-under-par 278 total over four days a year ago to get into a playoff with Lincicome and Baek. Unfortunately, Chun dumped her approach into the water at the 18th but her star had officially risen.

Although this will be Chun’s final LPGA start of the 2015 season, she’s officially accepted membership for 2016 and should make her name a staple on leaderboards next season.

JIN-YOUNG KO BACK FOR MORE

Jin-Young Ko posted a tie for 42nd here in her first ever LPGA start, but she showed the experience paid off this summer when she went to the RICOH Women’s British Open and held the 54-hole lead in her first ever major championship start. Ko even held the lead midway through the back nine on Sunday, but a dunked shot at the 16th into the greenside creek doomed her chances and instead watched Inbee Park hoist the trophy. Ko’s in the field again this week.

TOP PLAYERS CONTINUE TO FLOCK TO LPGA KEB HANA BANK

When it comes to fields on the LPGA Tour, they don’t get much stronger than this one. 9 of the top 10 players in the world will tee it up this week at Sky 72 Golf Club’s Ocean Course. Among the top 20 players in the world, only Stacy Lewis and Bo-Mee Lee aren’t here this week.

72 HOLES UNDER LIGHTS

If Korea’s love of golf needs any verification, the venue this week should provide it. Sky 72 Golf Club is named for the fact that it has 72 holes on the property, but that’s not the most impressive aspect of it. That honor goes to the fact that every single hole on the property is played under the lights and sunlight or not, the golf goes on here in Incheon, just 20 minutes down the road from where the President’s Cup was staged last week.